Brain Implant Lets One Monkey Control Another

LiveScience ^ | February 18, 2014 11:00am ET | Charles Q. Choi,

[BenLurkin]

The researchers developed a brain-to-spinal-cord prosthesis that connected two adult male rhesus monkeys.

"I was inspired a little by the movie 'Avatar,'" Williams said. The main character in the 2009 sci-fi film is a paraplegic, and connects his brain to a computer that helps him control an artificial body.

The monkey that served as the master had electrodes wired into his brain, while the monkey that served as the avatar had electrodes wired into his spine. The avatar's hand was placed onto a joystick that controlled a cursor displayed on the master's screen.

The avatar monkey was sedated so that he had no control over his own body. Computers decoded the brain activity of the master monkey and relayed those signals to the spinal cord and muscles of the avatar monkey. This allowed the master to control the cursor by moving the hand of the avatar. The master received a reward of juice if he successfully moved the cursor onto a target.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“Well, if they can use this system to allow a brain to pass signals to the spinal cord of another organism, they could also use it to allow a brain to pass signals to the spinal cord of its own organism. So, if someone has a damaged spinal cord and is paralyzed, this might help them bypass that damage and regain some movement.”

Thank you for a responsible comment.

[clearcarbon]

"Brain Implant Lets One Monkey Control Another"

[Organic Panic]

OK. I’m just gonna say it and ban me for life. But here it goes.

They’re called EBT cards.

[a fool in paradise]

I have to ask why anyone would develop a thing like this, unless the goal is to have humans controlled by others, or a central power.

Wiring it up may be to prove the theoretical of "Rewiring" a brain (in the case of a stroke or other severe damage) or as others have said, to jump over bad "circuitry" in spinal damage.

However it does not seem ethical to do this to two healthy monkey, or to have one drive the other (scientists could do that as well as check for signals from the brain).

The Russians created "two-headed dogs" in the 1950s (they'd live around 2 weeks before infection set in).

I think a US scientist did this with monkeys around 2001 in Cleveland.

There are others who work up designs to keep a severed head alive.